


The barrio and Pete

by Onelifetogive



Series: When Pete met Sonny [2]
Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Abuela Claudia is an angel, Crush at First Sight, Fluff, M/M, Sonny is good at fixing things, Sonny is good at reading people, Teen Crush, Usnavi is good at making Sonny cry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-29 00:10:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12618696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onelifetogive/pseuds/Onelifetogive
Summary: No one knew the boy named Pete that suddenly seemed to be a part of Sonny de la Vega's life. This is the story of how they got to know him before they even met him.





	1. Abuela Knows

It was about half an hour before midnight when Claudia startled awake, sitting upright and listening closely to the sounds in her dark apartment. For a moment, she wasn’t sure she had even heard anything, maybe she had just woken as always because she was parched, but then- there it was again. A soft clanking, the fire escape creaking at being climbed. A quick look towards the old alarm clock on her bedside table confirmed that it was way past bedtime for Sonny, and Usnavi would not climb the fire escape when he was perfectly allowed to just use the front door.

Whoever it was better had a good excuse to be climbing at this hour.

Her old bones cracking as she climbed out of bed, she sighed softly, pulling on her worn night robe and putting on her fuzzy slippers. It was almost time for her glass of water anyways, and she might as well check up on her boys while she was up.

As expected, Usnavi was soundly asleep in his bedroom, the same he had slept in ever since he came to sleep at her place when his parents were too busy with the store, and that had become his permanent home when they had passed. With his early hours, opening the bodega in the morning, she hadn’t expected anything else. Even a boy as tireless and energetic as he was needed at least a few nights of normal sleep instead of a night spent over the books or going out with Benny. Not that she didn’t approve of his nights out, the boy deserved a break once in a while. He was too young to be burdened with all that responsibility, the bodega and looking after Sonny on top of it all.

Which brought her to her little trouble maker. The next bedroom was Sonny's, and just like Usnavi, he had come to sleep at her apartment whenever his mother was working late, which had been most nights, until he came to stay with Usnavi and thus herself permanently when his mother had been arrested for shoplifting, and then for violating her parole.

It didn’t take her long to make her way two doors down, past the bathroom to reach Sonny's door, decorated with a colorful collage of letters cut out of old magazines spelling out his name. She gently pushed it open fully, her eyes flitting over to the twin bed that should had held the slumbering form of the 14-year-old. Instead, the cover was flipped open, revealing that he was in fact not in bed at all. Sonny had snuck out.

Walking over to the open window, spider man curtains fluttering in the breeze, Claudia glanced down to the street just as a tall, lanky figure bolted down the street, backpack clanking with cans of whatever sort. Just as the figure had disappeared around the bodega, two police officers came into view, hot on the heels of the person. And Sonny was somewhere out there.

Abuela kept observing the events on the street, the police searching and obviously not finding the boy they had been chasing. They did look up at the window at some point and asked her if she had seen anyone, but she just shook her head, not wanting to get involved. Besides, she had a feeling where the boy had disappeared to, there weren’t many hiding spots around the corner. If she knew her boy, and she did, then he had given the stranger refuge in the bodega. She wasn’t worried though, despite being tiny compared to everyone else around the barrio, Sonny knew how to look out for himself most of the time, and he was excellent at judging people. He would be fine. Still, if he wasn’t home by midnight, she would wake Usnavi to check on him. But there was no need to alarm the slumbering angel just yet.

Just before Sonny's ultimatum ran out, she saw him and the boy appear at the corner of the bodega, both a slushie in hand and smiling. Claudia tilted her head slightly, smiling softly at the grin on Sonny's face as he jogged across the street, and critically observing the stranger Sonny had obviously befriended over the course of mere minutes. She had never seen him around here, and she knew everyone in the barrio. Whoever it was, he wasn’t from here.

She retreated to the hallway when Sonny began climbing back up, until she could hear him right outside the window. Then, she opened the door again, the street lights casting a shadow into the room from the window where Sonny was straddling the window sill. He had stopped the moment the door creaked open, frozen in place by the sight of the barrio's abuela in the dimly illuminated hallway.

“What do you think you're doing, at this hour?” she chided as sternly as she could, hands pushed into her sides. She was a sweet old lady, but not one to be underestimated. The teen stumbled fully into the room now. “Sonny, you should have been in bed hours ago!”

The boy rubbed this head self-consciously, blushing slightly in the dim light. “I know, I know, abuela, but I woke up and wanted a slushie. Just like you want a glass of water.”

Raising an eyebrow, Claudia shook her head, tutting softly. “I do not climb down the fire escape for it though, mijo!”

She could see the smart-mouth reply on Sonny's mind, and held up her hand to stop him before he could speak up. “And no, that's not because I’m too old for it. It's dangerous outside at night, especially for a sweet, nice boy as yourself.”

“I was only gone, like, five minutes!” Sonny protested, but Claudia raised her eyebrow, giving him a stern look. “Okay, more like 20…” Sonny immediately amended, fidgeting nervously.

“ _Mijo_ , I woke up when you climbed down, I know how long you were out. And just imagine, when I looked down to the street, there was the police, chasing a criminal. And you out of bed, something could have happened to you!”

Claudia don’t have the time to really get worked up, even if she knew that Sonny apparently had befriended the criminal, it had been dangerous of him to do so, and she wanted to let him know that. However, Sonny quickly hugged her, shaking his head, and the words died on her lips.

“I was in the bodega, and you know I always lock up. I wasn’t in no danger.”

“So the criminal didn’t join you in the bodega and didn’t try one of your strange drinks that give me a headache, no?” Claudia shook her head softly, clucking her tongue. “Sonny, I know you only see the best in people, but you really need to be more careful.”

Sonny was blushing again, pulling back slightly. “His name is Pete, and he's really nice. He's not, like, a real criminal anyway, he's an artist. He does graffiti, and the police only chase him because he is painting at night.”

“Graffiti? Like the strange letters and crude pictures all around the barrio? That is no art, that is _basura_!”

“No, it’s not, Abuela, look,” Sonny was quick to interrupt Claudia before she could get enraged and possibly wake Usnavi. He did not want his cousin aware that he had snuck out. He knew Usnavi's view on safety and hanging out with artists. Instead, he pulled out tiny digital camera, pulling up a picture he had taken earlier that day at the George Washington Bridge. It showed a beautiful mural of the founding fathers, some of them reimagined as persons of color, men and women alike, a perfect representation of the actual population of the Nation, underneath the first words of the U.S. Constitution. _‘We the People of the United States'._ “See, it’s not garbage. This is art, just not the type you have in a museum.”

Abuela tilted her head, sighing softly as she took in the picture. It looked nice, alright. “Well, alright, that graffiti isn’t too bad, it’s still illegal to put it on people's walls without their permission though!” Glancing at Sonny, she smiled softly when she saw his relief at her approval of his new friend's art. Apparently, it meant a lot to him… or the friend did. “Come on, _mijo_ , we're both awake, let’s walk to the kitchen and I'll make you a hot cocoa before you go back to bed. And you can tell me all about Pete.”

Judging by the bright smile on Sonny's face, she had not been wrong. She wasn’t sure he was even aware of it himself, but as the barrio’s abuela, she knew what a crush looked like. It was years since she had last felt it, the gravitational pull of a person who held the promise of happiness, of future, but she remembered well, even if, for her, the promises had not held up. And if it was another boy conjuring up that smile on her little _cariño's_ face, who was she to condemn it? All that counted was that her boys were happy.  

The light Sonny had installed in the underside of the cabinets earlier this summer (' _so you can get your glass of water easier, abuela_ ') glowed dimly as the two walked into the small kitchen, illuminating the scraps of memories that decorated the kitchen tiles. Pictures of friends, of 8-year-old Usnavi holding a newborn Sonny, a drawing Sonny had made of their little family when he was four ( _'this is me and this is you and this is Usnavi and this is Tía and Tío in the bodega and over there at work is Mommy_ '), a small newspaper clipping of Nina winning something with her debate team at school, a card signed by almost everybody in the barrio for Claudia's last birthday. Everything that meant something to Claudia was collected here.

She quickly opened the fridge that was adorned with more memorabilia, more drawings and pictures and ticket stubs to Usnavi's school productions and a photo of Claudia's nails from when Vanessa had decided to paint them for Christmas. The snowflakes didn’t come out right in the beginning, but by the tenth finger they had been perfectly neat.

“Now, Sonny,” Claudia started as she set about preparing the milk. “Tell me about your new friend.”

The teen hopped on the countertop, swinging his legs slightly as he shrugged, a blush creeping over his cheeks. “I don’t know if I would call him my friend, abuela, I only met him today and we didn’t talk much…”

Claudia waved his objections away with a quick motion of her hands. “¡ _Tonterías_! Sonny, I have never known you to be wrong about a person. So, tell me all you know, and all you think about him.”

Claudia loved the smile it brought to her boy's lips, and soon Sonny started to speak up. “Okay, so… his name is Pete, he's not much older than me, I just don’t know how old exactly. And he's like a foot taller than me. What else… he does awesome graffiti, and he was real concerned about me taking things in the bodega because he had no idea Usnavi owns it. He told me he never stole anything, and I believe him. And he is brave, I mean, he actually tried my Sonny special, even though he knew me, like, ten minutes.” Sonny hesitated a little, biting his lip. “I think he was scared at first when I pulled him into the stock room of the bodega. Like, pressing back into the shelves to get away from me, scared.”

“Scared? Of you? And you call him brave?” Claudia teased, Sonny sputtering mock-disgruntled before shaking his head.

“I had the lights switched off so the cops wouldn’t see the door, of course. So, he didn’t see me. He wasn’t scared no more once the lights were on, just surprised. And he turned protective right away, like, lecturing me that I was putting myself in danger by letting him in. Didn’t tell him 'bout the baseball bat, but yeah, he went all 'be more careful, kid!'”

“I like the boy already,” Claudia quipped, sending Sonny an approving glance that the boy didn’t notice with his head down, eyes focusing on his hands.

“Yeah, well, he actually seemed really nervous, like, he has this really tough outer layer with his bad ass graffiti and his short hair and all that tough guy act, but I could tell he's really nice and sweet and kind of lost, I think. I'm probably more trouble than he is, because when I asked if I could come with when he does his art, he told me no, and that he won’t let me go to jail before high school.”

Claudia nodded, not really surprised Sonny had wanted to witness the creation of Pete's art. It looked great, even to an old lady as herself. “He sounds like a talented, kind boy. I haven’t seen him around here before; does he live close?”

Sonny shrugged, smiling as she handed him the steaming cup of hot cocoa and taking a big sip. “ _Gracias_ … no, I don’t think so, I mean, I'm sure I would know him if he lived in the barrio. He's probably from a couple blocks away, at least. He promised to come back for my slushies and to show me pictures of his art though.”

Claudia nodded, filling her glass with tab water. “Alright, maybe I can meet him then. He seems nice, and I'd like to know the boys my little sunshine spends his time with.”

Sonny blinked at that, pausing the cup in midair from where he had begun to lift it again. “You… you actually want to meet him?”

“But of course, Sonny. I suspect he’ll come by more often, and I have to know everyone in the barrio.”

Before she could react, Sonny had put down his cup and jumped off the counter to envelop her into a tight hug. “Thanks, abuela,” he whispered, voice hoarse as if he was close to tears.

Smiling, she held the tiny boy, glad to have him healthy and happy in her arms, until there was a sound from the doorway. “ _¿Qué pasó?_ Why are you guys up at this hour?” Usnavi rubbed his eyes as he stepped into the light of the kitchen, yawning and furrowing his brow at the sight of his cousin disentangling himself from their abuela’s arms. “Sonny, you should be in bed…”

“Ah, Usnavi, _está bien_ ,” Claudia quickly defended Sonny, smiling at the older boy. “Sonny couldn’t sleep so I made him a cup of cocoa before we head to bed again.”

“Ah… okay…” Usnavi muttered, nodding tiredly. “Are you okay, Sonny? Was it another nightmare?”

“Naw, cuz, just the moon or something… don’t worry, I’ll probably fall asleep the minute I hit the hay… come on, let’s go back to bed.” Grasping Claudia’s hand, for a moment, Sonny gifted her with his most honest smiles, tender and a little shy. “Thanks, abuela…” He didn’t say what he was thankful for, but Abuela knew regardless as she watched her two boys leave the kitchen to return to bed, Usnavi ruffling Sonny’s unruly curls, earning a little shove by his smaller cousin. She was so looking forward to meeting Pete.


	2. Usnavi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usnavi finds a surprise in the morning.

Usnavi de la Vega yawned and lifted his cap to rub at his short hair as he stepped out of the doorway, the exact opposite of ready for another long day in the bodega, serving customers and keeping things running. However, it wasn’t like he had any choice, and ready or not, opening time was opening time. At least Sonny was out of school for the summer and would drop by later to keep him company and give him a hand. Lazily bringing the heel of his hand to his eyes, Usnavi did his best to rub away the remaining tiredness as he crossed the street, only to stop in the middle of the thankfully empty Avenue.

There was a spash of color on his awning.

Slowly stepping closer, Usnavi kept his eyes focused on the stain, willing it to go away, but no such luck. Off to the side, tucked into a corner, was a spot of red, along with streaks of blue and green, and in the middle of the colorful swirl a single letter in a bright yellow, ‘P’. Immediately Usnavi turned left and right to glare down the street, hoping to spot anyone he could blame for this vandalism, but there was no one remotely in sight. He wasn’t sure what he had expected at 7 am, really, whoever was responsible for the smear had obviously taken the opportunity of the dark of night to commit their heinous crime. Still, his previously alright mood had turned sour at the unsightly addition to his decoration.

Sighing heavily and vowing to himself to wake up earlier or maybe even pulling an all-nighter surveilling his store from his window to prevent further vandalism, the bodega owner started pulling up the grate, the old rusty metal chain rustling and the heavy grate moaning under the strain of being lifted. He would have to fix it sometime soon, if he could earn the money to pay for a mechanic or a completely new grate. Or maybe he should ask Sonny to fix it. His little cousin was only 14, true, and he had never worked on anything as big as the bodega grate this far, but he was exceptionally good at fixing things, and Usnavi didn’t have any doubts that somehow, Sonny would find a way to get the grate into working order again. That might borrow them a little extra time before they would have to replace it completely.

Unlocking the front door, Usnavi halted, glancing over the store. Something seemed to be off, and he wasn’t sure what it was. For a moment, he considered he might be losing his mind, how should anyone have managed to get into his bodega if the grate was lowered and the doors securely locked?

And then he noticed the wrappers on the counter.

In two strides, Usnavi stood over the offending objects, staring down at the remnants of four pixy stix. Next to it was a small red stain, one that was easily identified as slushie by tapping it and noting how sticky it was. Usnavi was absolutely certain that this was a recent spill, he had wiped down the entire store before closing up the night before.

Immediately, Usnavi’s mind returned to the scene he had walked in on last night, his cousin and Abuela Claudia embracing in the kitchen, steaming mug of cocoa forgotten on the counter. Abuela had claimed they had simply not been able to sleep, and taking in the mess on the previously immaculate counter, Usnavi had an inkling as to why Sonny had found it difficult to slumber. No wonder, with as much sugar in his system.

By the time Sonny entered the bodega, late as usual, Usnavi had scrubbed the surfaces, counted the stock and noted down the missing candy to put on Sonny’s tab. He had tried his best to scrub the graffiti of the awning, but it proved resilient and he would have to get some more aggressive cleaning detergents to rid his bodega of the traces of vandalism. “Sonny, I hope you know that that’s the fourth time this week that you’re late!” he immediately chided as the doorbell rang and his small cousin strode in, unruly curls tucked underneath a snapback. Usnavi straightened as he ticked off the last of the missing candy bars on his list.

“Chillax, it’s not like I have official starting hours,” Sonny quipped, shrugging noncommittally as he immediately started towards the slushie machine.

“Really, another one, Son’, after the mess you left last night?” Usnavi was pleased to see his cousin freeze, obviously caught but smiling innocently as he turned, feigning ignorance on what Usnavi might be talking about.

“I have no clue what you're talking about, cuz', I was in bed…” Sonny was a terrible liar, fidgeting slightly with his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his jeans shorts, trying his best to keep the eye contact, but faltering under Usnavi’s stern gaze.

“Yeah, right, because you could sleep so well last night, I remember… and of course you didn’t happen to sneak out and grab a couple midnight snacks while you were waiting for the slushie machine to get cold again. How could I assume such a thing,” Usnavi replied, rounding the counter to put a hand on Sonny’s shoulder. He didn’t mean to come across threatening, but Sonny retreated, crossing his arms defiantly and pouting a little. Still, Usnavi didn’t relent, crossing his arms in turn. “I told you not to sneak out after curfew, this isn’t a neighborhood for any 14-year-old to roam at night. Just last night, someone actually put graffiti on our awning, just imagine if you had been out and about when they were out there!”

Sonny started smiling at this, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline. “Graffiti on our awning?” he mumbled, awestruck. Well, this wasn’t the reaction Usnavi had aimed for.

“Yes, graffiti! Why do you seem so happy about that?” Sonny’s grin just grew wider, and he rushed outside to look for the smear, leaving Usnavi flustered and confused. What the hell was wrong with his kid cousin? “Yo, come back, I need you to watch the store!” he yelled after Sonny, sighing as he grabbed his wallet and walked to the door, watching Sonny stand outside, transfixed by the colorful disgrace left last night. Why would anyone look at this stain as if it was the most beautiful piece of art? And was Sonny… did he have tears in his eyes? “Sonny, you alright?”

That got Sonny’s attention, and shaking his head, he walked back inside. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good, I just like it. Looks real neat, doesn’t it?” the kid breathed, heading for the slushie machine again.

“It does not, and it won’t stay there, because I’ll be right back with something to get it off. You keep an eye on the bodega, and stop drinking all these slushies, all that sugar can’t be good for you. Eat a carrot, or something!”

“But cuz’” Sonny whined, letting his upper body flop onto the counter like a boneless sack. “How am I supposed to find the perfect recipe if I can’t experiment?”

Usnavi sighed heavily, propping the door open with his hip. “I thought you had a recipe you liked?”  
“No, that was thrown out last night, wasn’t good enough…”

Sonny’s disappointment almost moved Usnavi, but the older cousin simply shook his head, shrugging. “Well, as no one actually drinks your slushie cocktails, just restock and keep the register while I’m out. And no slushies!”

Usnavi only heard a low groan and Sonny’s forehead hitting the countertop as he left the bodega behind, the flame of his determination fanned as he caught another glimpse of the colorful swirls on hish awning.

Finding the right stuff to finally rid himself of the paint took longer than Usnavi had imagined, and besides, what exactly would he need to wipe off spray-paint? He decided not to take any chances, and instead went a bit overboard with supplies. Carrying back two large bags of cleaning detergents, solutions, sponges and some aggressive chemicals that might actually eat up his awning along with the paint, he struggled back towards the bodega, the graffiti signaling at him from way too far. It had to go, as soon as possible!

He almost collided with a teen exiting the bodega, backpack slung over his bare shoulders, something that looked like Sonny’s wild slushie experiments clutched in hand. Weird… no one ever paid any money to drink those abominations. The teen seized Usnavi up, waving back at someone in the bodega and glancing at the graffiti. As he adjusted the straps of his bag, Usnavi could hear cans clanging… Oh, hell no!

“Yo, freeze right there!” the bodega owner yelled after the boy who glanced back alarmed and sped down the street, obviously realizing who he had just ran into. Cursing under his breath, Usnavi pulled open the door and was ready to question whoever was still in the store about the identity of the boy, however the only person in the store was Sonny, who sat on the counter, dangling his legs and slurping on a slushie looking eerily like the one the strange kid had clutched.

“Who was that punk?” Usnavi spat without a hello, earning a questioning look from his cousin. “The one who just walked out, who bolted when he saw me, who had a slushie in his hand… who probably defaced my awning?” he clarified, putting down the heavy bags.

“Oh, that’s Pete.” Sonny smiled, shrugging. “He’s my friend.”

Snorting at that, Usnavi started unloading his bags. “Right, what a great friend, vandalizing the store of your older cousin. I don’t want you hanging around with those kinds of people, Son’, they spell trouble! Before you know it, you’ll be doing drugs or become part of a gang.”

“No, I wouldn’t!” Sonny sounded indignant, prompting Usnavi to look up surprised. “Pete isn’t a bad person, he’s actually real nice. He’s an artist, man, and he wouldn’t let me get into trouble even if I wanted to. Believe me, I tried, but he won’t budge. Besides, he actually likes my secret recipes, and he’s been taste testing them.”

“What do you mean, you tried?” Usnavi put his hands on his hips in what he hoped was a good imitation of Abuela Claudia. Apparently, he succeeded as Sonny sighed and looked down at his hands, fidgeting slightly.

“Nothing… I just… I might have mentioned going out and watching him paint…”

“You did what?” Usnavi all but yelled, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. “Sonny, he’s breaking the law, and you wanna be his accomplice? I can’t believe you! I don’t want to see him around here anymore!”

“Fo’ real, Usnavi?” Sonny was up now, standing in front of his cousin, trying to make himself look taller than he was. “I’m not his accomplice, I told you, he wasn’t having none of it! And you can’t keep me from seeing my friends!”

“Well, I can ban him from the bodega, because it’s my damn store!”

Usnavi didn’t realize the impact of his words until Sonny stared at him with tears in his eyes, shaking his head slowly. “Okay, then you can mind your damn store on your own, because I’m not putting up with this tyranny. You either trust me to not to do something stupid, or you fire me right now.”

For a moment, it was completely silent in the De La Vega Bodega, only the low hum of the slushie machine cutting through the thick tension. Then “You do realize you don’t actually work here, right?”

“Usnavi!” Sonny protested, tears brimming his eyes. “Can you be serious for a moment?”

Seeing his little cousin so distressed moved something in Usnavi, and he stepped forward, enveloping him in a rare hug. “I’m sorry, Sonny… I didn’t mean to yell at you. You know you’re important to me, right, mijo? I just… I don’t want you to hang out with bad dudes, and I guess I just... I worry, alright?”

“But do you trust me?” came the muffled response from the folds of Usnavi’s shirt, and he pulled back a little, smiling softly at his cousin.

“Of course, I just don’t trust that punk.” Just thinking about the rascal who had defaced his store front made Usnavi seethe with rage, but he tried his best to contain it as he heard Sonny’s quiet voice, still protesting.

“He’s not a punk though…”

Usnavi sighed. How could he ever say no to this kid? “Alright, I won’t ban him… but I reserve the right to kick him out if he misbehaves. Oh, and I get paid for those slushies!”

He was rewarded with a blinding smile. "Deal."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for checking out this little Series. 
> 
> It kind of functions as part of my NaNoWriMo project, so I should be updating this regularly. Once this is done, I will probably post more ficlets from this 'verse, I have a bunch of ideas already. Hope you enjoy reading about these boys as much as I enjoy writing and imagining.


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